Agenda item

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 5^th October 2015

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 October 2015 were AGREED.

In relation to the previous action around some disabled LAC travelling long distances to school, the Head of Integrated Service, Early Help and Prevention ADVISED that there was a small cohort of 22 LAC with a disability. Of the 22 individuals: 7 were in a residential special school which was more than 20 miles outside of Haringey; 15 were fostered outside of Haringey and attended a day special school that was located near to their foster placement; and of the remaining children there were 3 who travelled a significant distance to maintain their previous school placements. 

The Head of Integrated Service commented that over time the group which attended a residential special school would need to be looked at as this involved a cohort of young people who had complex care needs, potentially involving both the needs of the children and of their families. As a result, work was being undertaken to look at commissioning different services for them locally.

The Committee NOTED that a mystery shopper exercise had been undertaken in relation to NRS, involving a number of different scenarios and that the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The Children in Care Service Manager reported that on each occasion the shopper was met with interest,  professional courtesy and that the person from NRS was able to talk in detail about the process.

The Children in Care Service Manager also advised that, in terms of the NRS contract, a working group been set up to look at three potential models for future delivery; including contract renewal, putting the contract out to tender or bringing the service back in-house. The Children in Care Service Manager REPORTED that one of the main issues with the current contract was that it was so vague that NRS recruited an overwhelmingly majority of foster carers for young children but failed to recruit enough placements for older children and teenagers.  The Committee NOTED that the current contract was set up so that NRS were paid on a per assessment basis.

The Chair requested an update on the NRS contract be brought to the next meeting of the Committee.

Action: Dominic Porter-Moore

The AD Safeguarding REPORTED that significant progress had been made in relation to Missing Children; a protocol on Missing Children had been signed with the LSCB and agreed with all partner agencies. In addition, the Head of Service for Safeguarding has instigated monthly meeting panels to look at Missing Children at those at risk, in an integrated multi-agency way.

The AD Safeguarding also REPORTED that the Pan-London Adoption bid was a work in progress. The bid had been initially allocated £100k for the design and scoping work and the Committee was informed that this work was ongoing. In addition, there were also a number of meetings taking place with prospective adopters, young people, and council leaders to scope their views on how the service should be designed. The AD Safeguarding agreed to circulate the regionalisation adoption vision for London document and agreed to keep the Committee updated of on the progress of the bid. 

Action: Neelam Bhardwaja